Thousands of visitors were hit by anti-Semitic inscriptions over the weekend when they attended the annual Jewish Food and Cultural Fair in the Australian capital of Canberra.
The wood “Holohoax,” a key slogan used by neo-Nazi groups who claim the Nazi Holocaust was a Myth, was painted in black letters across the front of the National Jewish Memorial Centre, which houses Canberra’s only synagogue, as well as lecture halls and classrooms.
Plaques in the center’s garden were defaced with black spray paint.
Athol Morris, president of ACT Jewish Community Inc., said in an interview that the graffiti had made him “very angry.”
“I am angry that the funds raised by the fair will need to be diverted to repair the vandalism but even angrier that the memory of those killed in the Holocaust has been desecrated,” he said.
In response to the attack, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia called on the government to continue to move forward with the Racial Hatred Bill, a legislative package that would penalize people who committed racist-motivated crimes.
This call was supported by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. In a statement issued Tuesday, the council said: “It is to be hoped that those responsible are not only apprehended but dealt with appropriately, with sentencing recognizing that they did not merely engage in vandalism but in contemptible racism.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
